Customers Sue Time Warner Cable Over Loss of Local Broadcast Channel in Retrans Dispute

A group of Time Warner Cable customers filed suit against the company over its dropping of a local broadcast channel from its lineup, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

The channel is Milwaukee NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), and the move is unrelated to the current dispute between TWC and CBS — even if the tone of the WTMJ impasse is similar to that of the CBS-Time Warner situation, in which CBS-owned stations and cable channels have been blacked out on Time Warner systems.

"Time Warner dropped WTMJ on July 25 over a contract dispute. Both companies have been running public relations campaigns ever since trying to convince the public the other side is making unreasonable demands," the story reports. "WTMJ is owned by Journal Broadcast Group, which in turn is owned by Journal Communications, which also owns the Journal Sentinel."

The lawsuit was filed by three Time Warner customers. "The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, seeks class-action status on behalf of all Time Warner subscribers who no longer get WTMJ-TV on their service," the piece reports.

It adds: "The suit seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract, and a day’s credit for each customer for every day service was interrupted more than four hours, under a state statute that addresses service interruption."